In 2013, Black Widow Enterprises Pty Ltd was awarded a patent for a drop-down fridge slide.
This patent was purchased by Clearview Accessories in 2014, and the Clearview Easy Slide was
born. Seven years later, MSA 4×4 decided to take legal action on what it felt was a breach of its
patented product. So in February 2021, MSA 4×4 initiated legal proceedings, alleging patent infringement by Clearview Accessories on their Drop Slide.
The Federal Court of Australia recently ruled in favour of Clearview Accessories in the patent-infringement lawsuit, MSA 4×4 Accessories Pty Ltd v Clearview Towing Mirrors Pty Ltd [2024] FCA 24. The court determined that Clearview Accessories did not infringe on Shane Miles’ drop slide patent with the production and sale of the Easy Slide. Co-founder Mike Cowan expressed satisfaction with the court’s decision, emphasizing that the cost of the legal battle, over $1 million in the past two years, could have been better utilized to support customers and dealers.
Mike continues, “This case has demonstrated that Clearview Accessories won’t bow to
aggressive tactics from competitors, and hopefully, this result has brought this background
noise to a close once and for all, allowing our two companies to co-exist in the market.”
Co-founder Jay Praag shares, “Competition in the market provides choice for customers, and to
have a company try to restrict our capacity to produce and sell a legally competing product is
bad form. Intellectual property rights are an essential tool, and we would understand and
support MSA 4X4 defending their patent had we copied the Drop Slide. They took seven years to
decide to pressure-test our patented product after we’d spent millions of dollars advertising
and building a following for the Easy Slide.”
“Instead of focusing attention trying to cut down fellow Australian companies who are doing the
right thing, we should be supporting each other to ensure the continuation of locally designed
products suited to the Australian lifestyle.”
